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Social support networks and vegetable consumption of older adults in rural Iowa: Who do they eat with and who encourages healthy eating?
Participants were on average 73.6 (SD=7.70) years old, majority female (73.7%), not married/partnered (60.5%) and had at least some college or technical school training (65.8%). Less than one-fifth (19.4%) reported consuming vegetables at least 3 times daily. Participants enumerated 1,069 social support network members (mean=14.1, SD=6.8) that included friends (39.5%), children (18.7%), siblings (10.5%), and other family (27.6%) and non-family members of the community (3.6%). About half of the network members live within 1 hour drive of the participant. Majority (84.2%) of participants reported having someone with whom they share meals. Of the 1,069 social network members listed, 297 (27.8%) shared meals with the participants (48.8% family, 51.2% friends) and 77 (7.2%) encouraged the participant to eat more fruits and vegetables. Those who encouraged were family (61.0%) and friends or other acquaintances (39.0%).
Most participants reported eating with other members of their social networks, but a very small portion of network members encouraged healthy eating. This suggests potential room for improvement in facilitating social support for healthy eating. Further findings and implications for research and interventions will be discussed.
Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health educationChronic disease management and prevention
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Describe social contexts of eating behaviors among a sample of rural older adults
Identify sources of encouragement to consume fruits and vegetables within the social network of older adults
Discuss potential social factors that can be considered in interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among older adults
Keyword(s): Aging, Nutrition
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a research assistant at the University of Iowa College of Public Health and worked on this project regarding social contexts of rural adult as a trained interviewer, project coordinator, and data manager. I developed this topic on food security, nutrition, and social support and prepared the initial writing. My research training background includes community based participatory research, health disparities, food security, and health behaviors including nutritional intake.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.